Path 2

Path 2

The Wire Hangers Incident Never Happened!

November 17, 2010

If you’re gay and of a certain age, the iconic scene from Mommie Dearest where Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford shrieks at her daughter Christina, “No wire hangers!” has been ingrained into your being like Man Tan.

Well, a new book about Joan by Donald Spoto says it’s pure fiction.

In Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford, Spoto writes:

“The laundry company and the dry cleaners…were under strict instructions to return all clothing on the richly covered hangers Joan provided.

“Could the company have failed once and thus caused Joan’s irrational outburst?

“Possibly — except that the task of returning the clothes to the wardrobes after the deliveries was assigned to the housekeeper.

“Had this instruction been contravened or omitted, heads (or at least jobs) would have rolled.

“Hence, the episode of the hangers refers to an injunction from Joan reworked by Christina as an actual event that precipitated a mad scene worthy of an Italian opera.”

Got it? Allude to that heinous incident once more and I shall shriek, “No ‘No Wire Hangers!’ “